Don’t play video games, try being a magician.

Posted by: Mr B4 on August 2nd, 2007

I know that I am not supposed to really bring anything out again until Monday, but I couldn’t pass this story up. This comes from an article I found on both filefront.com, and also on myfoxdc.com today. What this article gives is five after-school alternative activities for gamers, other than playing video games.

Here are the five suggested alternatives, and my interpretation of them:

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Catagories: Websites, Xbox 360, Sony, PSP, Games, Microsoft, PS3, Xbox

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A patch in the shadows

Posted by: Rusty Ranchero on August 1st, 2007

All the big sites, such as Major Nelson and Kotaku, didn’t post anything about it. But for the 6 of you that care, Xbox Live casted a long awaited (and much needed) update that mightily improves the online essence of Shadowrun. What did take 4-8 minutes to find a game, now calls for less than one, with a 99% success rate, and here is proof (video).

As the video above illustrates, the update introduces a new information pane at the top right corner of the screen that gives you up-to-the-second status. Way cool! But for every tree you chop down, you must also plant one.

While the lag has not changed (there was never much to begin with) the dissconnects seem to have increased. With the 10 hours of gameplay that I have with the new patch, I experienced half of my total disconnections in Shadowrun. And I’ve amassed almost 48 hours under my belt. So while I enjoy this game very much, I can’t say the patch is perfect. But it is admirable that the developers have not given up on Shadowrun, while so many gamers and even gaming websites have.

And to add to my shameless plug for the game, here’s a cool trailer you might have missed…

Catch you L8ER, -Rust.

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Catagories: Rusty Ranchero, Games

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The Two Stick Renaissance

Posted by: Thrillhouse17 on August 1st, 2007

Ever stopped to think how useful our thumbs are? These often overlooked little appendages let us show approval, hold the bottom of sandwiches, and move one way while shooting in another. What more could you want?

Back in 1997 I remember pumping quarter after quarter into the then retro Smash TV (released 1990). There was something so simple, yet horribly addictive, about the game play. The second my fingers touched the controls I could feel the adrenaline flowing. It was all about having the odds stacked against me as I faced incessant waves of enemies. It wasn’t a question of would I die, but how long could I last? How long could I look death in the eye before finally making a mistake, forcing me to dig through my pocket in hopes of finding one last quarter?

If you had told me a couple years ago that the two-stick shooter would be making a revival, I wouldn’t have believed you. With developers touting sophisticated enemy AI and hyper-realistic graphics, who would have thought that the most rudimentary style of game play would achieve such popularity? Now, before you yell out “Hey, welcome to 2005, we all know it’s back” (Or since you’re in internetland, it’ll be more like “I p0wn3d n00bs FTW”), I assure you I have a point. In 2005/06 it may have been considered a fad, but now that we’re approaching end-2007 and the genre is still going strong, it’s save to say that it’s here to stay.

Why the sudden revival of a game style that not only has been dormant for nearly a decade, but has little room for innovation? (Innovation, or the lack of, was discussed in this excellent article.) I’ll tell you why it’s back, and so much fun to play:

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Catagories: Thrillhouse17

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H3 to feature 4 player online co-op!

Posted by: Thrillhouse17 on July 31st, 2007

During a official press conference in Amsterdam Microsoft and Bungie confirmed that Halo 3 will feature 4 player cooperative play on Xbox Live. More info coming soon.

“In Halo 3, the third installment of the legendary epic, the war has come to a climax; the Flood continues to grow in numbers and strength, the armies of Earth are scattered and decimated, and the Covenant threatens to activate the Halo, effectively destroying all life in the galaxy. Master Chief’s mission is to stop the Covenant, destroy the impending Flood threat and, ultimately, save mankind.”

http://www.n4g.com/xbox360/News-55843.aspx

Fanboys rejoice! Now the only question remaining: How awesome is Halo 3?

Will this game just come out so we can get over it already?

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Catagories: Thrillhouse17, XBL Radio

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XBL Radio ver 49.0: ROID RAGE!!!

Posted by: The Other Guy 1 on July 30th, 2007

XBL Radio Ver 49.0:
TECH NEWS:
-Video Game Politics: Are you standing up for your rights as a gamer?
-In Game Advertising: It’s here to stay, and some think it’s working.
-EA to ad to games. err… I mean Advertise in games. Err I mean more ads.

GAME NEWS:
-Dead Rising 2: It may or may not be in development. And Shaun is nowhere to be found.
-The house that Slime Built is about to get your casual game dollars.
-Rusty Ranchero Listen Up: SHADOWRUN gets a little love. This should PATCH things up.

GAME REVIEWS:

-NCAA 08: TOG huddles up with Carpal for the latest in College Football.
-The Biggs: Mighty Carpal tells us why this Slugfest is actually fun.
-KID PIX: Surf’s Up for Cameron as he hangs 10 with XBL Radio.

PLUS:
-Squdpunch has the 360 Friendspot SPOT.
-GUI J hits us up with the Marketplace Minute.
-Useless Tips.
-Console Crimes.

All this and our winner of the 360 RacingWheel on this edition of XBL Radio. The only other way to get this pumped up would be to eat a urinal cake from Barry Bond’s Locker!

Direct Download ver 49.0,
Right Click here (and save as… for best download experience).

To subscribe to the podcast you can click on one of these…

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Catagories: .0 Shows, Podcast

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Halo 3 Campaign News, it has replay value!

Posted by: Mr B4 on July 30th, 2007

Yes, believe me, this was some big news for me as well as any other halo fan out there, the campaign in halo 3 is finally going to have some replay value other than just beating the same game on three difficulty levels. And they better, because gamers need designers to be more creative than “You beat the game on easy, well try it out on hard mode now”.

According to an article released by the Canadian press on Friday, Bungie announced that there were two all-new single player missions that were not shown at any of the major gaming events this year, but yet shown behind closed doors to members of the Canadian press.

One of the missions, called “The Storm”, has a part in it known as “The scarab conflict”, which is set in a factory complex. And according to the article, this level has more enemies than bad guys and allies in the first mission of the original Halo:Combat Evolved combined.

The other mission, called “Tsavo Highway”, is set to be the first vehicle mission in the game, and takes place in a dark tunnel cave, and mountain landscape. No more details were released on this level, but let’s hope it has just as much excitement as the other mission mentioned, or gamers are going to be bored. The lead sandbox designer from Bungie, Jaime Griesmer stated that “This just gives you an idea of the scale that we are going for”, he also said,”and these are not even the largest encounters in the game, the size really ramps up as you got through”.

Now where does the replay value come in you ask? Well, there was also talk about halo 3 having a point system to help increase replay value. Things like headshots, boarding vehicles, and assassinations will all be figured into this system, and then posted on leaderboards on Bungie’s website.

If somehow this was all configured to gaining achievements for each type of kill you get in online multiplayer and the campaign, then this could give the game more replay value than it has ever had in the past, and that could be a very good thing, especially if you’re a halo junkie like myself. Sept. 25th isn’t too far away, and if the game is anything like the article stated, than we have a lot to look forward to. But I am out for today, see you next time gamers.

Take care,

Mr B4

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Catagories: Xbox 360, Mr B4, Games, Halo, Microsoft, XBL Radio

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Two Worlds Fantasy Sword Giveaway

Posted by: Steve519 on July 29th, 2007

Ok as said before our 100th show is just around the corner. Now one of the things that we want to do is air ALL of your comments about our show. So to do that we set up a very special voice mail number that you can call and say what you want (Now it would be nice if you do it starting off with your gamertag, where your from, your site (if you have one) and then your message). But to help show our thanks you guys and gals that call in we are giving away this:

Its a fantasy sword/knife that was donated to us from Jay Fitzloff (PR Manager for Two Worlds) and it is one of many that was donated. The others will be given away on our 100th show. So feel free to call, send us a message saying whatever, and then you will be entered to win one of our awesome prizes. And if you don’t win this one, like I said earlier, theres more to be given away on our show. Now the number to call is, (206) 965-9269.

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Catagories: Steve519, Contests, XBL Radio

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Why I love the XBOX 360…

Posted by: MrCarpalTunnel on July 28th, 2007

I have been recently told that I never post in a positive way. Well I’m prepared to make amends. Here is a “pat on the back” for those who wag their finger at my criticism.

50 reasons to love the box:

1. It looks cool on your entertainment console.

2. Wireless controllers.

3. Halo

4. Geo Wars

5. Achievements.

6. Guitar Hero 2

7. Burnout Revenge.

8. Easy to turn on.

9. My wife doesn’t play.

10. My kids do play.

11. The community.

12. The blades.

13. Media Center tie-in

14. Crackdown

15. Splinter Cell

17. Affordable

18. Extended warranties.

19. Semi-portable.

20. My faceplate is cool

21. The ring around my vision camera makes people look at it.

22. Demos

23. Easy to replace batteries.

24. The controller works in Vista

25. Cross platform gaming

26. Halo 3 is coming

27. Uno

28. Poker

29. My dog isn’t afraid of it.

30. It’s only broke once.

31. 20 gigs is all I need

32. Chromehounds

33. The black controller looks nice

34. It has a nice soothing fan sound at night.

35. Its not too heavy

36. My gamertag

37. Voice messages

38. Live Eye

39. Can use pledge on it.

40. Controllers don’t hurt much (when tossed at you)

41. The remote is small

42. Updates are easy to install.

43. Can see what game is in disc tray.

44. The cool swoosh sound of the blades.

45. Doesn’t emit any odors.

46. Live on Live

47. Invites to games.

48. Cheaper than the PS3

49. Auto sign-in

50. My blade background of my kids.

I’m sure there are things I am missing. However I just wanted to verify to those, that think I’m a hater, that me and my box have an honest and loving relationship.

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Catagories: MrCarpalTunnel, Rumor Control

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My Heart Will Go On and On…

Posted by: MrCarpalTunnel on July 28th, 2007

A lot can happen in a week. I was recently on Vacation, with my family, this week. Gaming was the last thing on my mind. However with E3 and the Billion dollar warrenty situation; I may have picked a good time to take off.

Well now I am back, and something is eating away at me. So here I go with my “Conspiracy Theory” (or thats how it was reffered to on Major Nelson’s Podcast)

I will start by stating Peter Moore has done a lot for Xbox. As far as a figure-head goes, he promotted the console in a vibriant, intelligent manner. He made his name a staple on the MS team. I tip my hat to what I concede as a job well done.

So why am I writing this? I want to let Major Nelson and Moore know why people will draw conclusions to his departure:

You’re the Captain of the Ship. In smooth sailing you stand at the helm and bask in the glow of those green rings. However when the dust hits the cooling fan; you don’t jump ship.

You’re on record as saying your a Family man first. That was a big reason for your departure. I saw Titanic several times. Isn’t it “Women and Children first” or were you just referring to your family?

You also said your Children wanted to move:

I, like you, have kids. They, like yours, want to eat. With that in mind my career comes first.

Finally the last thing you announce at your MS title is your taking up residense at EA. Isn’t this the same company that took micro-transactions to a whole new level? So EA goes from leaving the Xbox out of the loop (remember the early Xbox days) to owning the one person who spoke loudest for the console.

In the end it doesn’t matter to most why Peter decided to jump ship. However callingthose who post and blog about possible scenarios “conspiracy theorists” is just lame. Perhaps thats the reason you had a hard time relating to all those pissed off red ringed customers. You couldn’t read your own writing on the wall.

-There I said it!

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Catagories: Xbox 360, MrCarpalTunnel, Rumor Control, Microsoft

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LIVE 48.5 Bonus + ThreeSpeech Interview

Posted by: Rusty Ranchero on July 27th, 2007

Rusty Ranchero guides you in this Extra Edition of The XBL Radio Podcast, Version 48.5, featuring an Interview with Ben and Dave from the ThreeSpeech.com Podcast. Also listen to extra conversations from the Gamers Roundtable that didn’t make the final show.

Highlights include…
Transformers the movie: Have you seen it? Did you like it?
GTA4 and offtopic discussion.
Gears of War for PC: 360ers get the shaft?
REHASHES: Why still existent in the “Next Generation”?

LIVE on LIVE™ guests (regular gamers, just like you) are
II V0LD3M0RT II, GamerAndy, ROORhighness, INFECTEDPB503 and Evolgenius.

Direct Download ver 48.5Bonus + ThreeSpeech Interview,
Right Click here (and save as… for best download experience).
-Duration 01:06 (30.50MB) 64Kbps-
-The ThreeSpeech Interview begins at 43:26-

If you missed it, catch the original LIVE on LIVE 48.5 here.

Your voice: 1 Commenter-What about you? »
Catagories: .5 Shows, Rusty Ranchero, Podcast, XBL Radio

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